Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 375
Gao Qiqian said anxiously: "Old slaves are not too small."

Chongzhen said earnestly: "Gao Banban, right now our Ming Dynasty spends a lot of money, and I really can't spend more money to reward you. I haven't bought new clothes for two years."

"There are also King Ding and King Yong who haven't bought new clothes for two years."

Speaking of this meal, Chongzhen said again: "I really wish I could break a tael of silver into two halves."

"Long live Lord, you are too harsh on yourself and His Royal Highness King Yong and King Ding." Gao Qiqian wiped his tears and said, "I don't want the ten taels of silver anymore, so I will use it to buy a new robe for you, Long Live Lord." Bar."

"That's not necessary." Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "As long as you don't think that the reward is too small."

"It's not too little, the old slave really doesn't think it's too little." Gao Qiqian said repeatedly, "Ten taels of silver is a lot."

"Ten taels of silver is indeed a lot." Chongzhen said, "The town soldiers, new army, cavalry and Yi Ding participating in this battle only have five taels of silver each, oh, and each of them has a sheep!"

"There are also those women who were captured by the rebel army."

"If there are still relatives, let them go back. If there are no relatives alive, then find a suitable marriage for them among the town soldiers in Xuzhou. It's a good home."

"I need to instruct Xu Yingwei to finish this matter as soon as possible."

"The old slave leads the order." Gao Qiqian turned and left.

But the mood has become completely different.

Gao Qi devoted himself to a sense of mission for no reason.

What sense of mission?ZTE Daming's sense of mission.

……

At this time, they are in the town soldier barracks outside the city.

Yang Ponu and several town soldiers sat by the campfire and chatted while warming up.

"The thief of the mother, this time it's a waste of time." Wang Laoshi said angrily, "These rebellious soldiers are too cowardly. Before we arrived, the new army took care of them."

"No, I guess I won't get the reward this time."

"Come on, you haven't fought a battle, and you still want to get rewards?"

"Don't even think about rewarding money, I want to go back early now."

"Yes, yes, this is already past the Waking of Insects, so don't miss the farming season."

While talking, a scholar of King Qin came over: "Yang Ponu, what are you guys talking about?"

"Zhuang Xiucai, there's nothing to talk about." Yang Ponu and a dozen town soldiers hurriedly got up to salute, and then said, "Just chatting nonsense, they are all guessing when they will be able to go home."

Zhuang Xiucai said: "The Holy Majesty has already decreed that you can go home tomorrow."

"Can we go home tomorrow?" Yang Ponu and other town soldiers were overjoyed, "Now we don't have to miss the farming time. We are worried that we will miss the farming time."

"I can't miss it." Zhuang Xiucai smiled and said, "The other rewards have also been confirmed."

"Rewards?" Yang Ponu and a dozen town soldiers were really overjoyed, "Do we have rewards too?"

"All." Zhuang Xiucai said, "The Holy Majesty said that all those who participated in this battle, no matter whether they were town soldiers, recruits or barbarians, generals or soldiers, would be rewarded with five taels of silver plus a fat bag." sheep!"

"Long live!" Yang Ponu, Wang Laoshi and other town soldiers cheered for a while.

Zhuang Xiucai smiled and said to Wang Laoshi: "Wang Laoshi, you haven't married yet, have you?"

"No." Wang Laoshi scratched his head in embarrassment, "The Yang people talked about matchmaking a few times, but it didn't work."

"Then come with me." Zhuang Xiucai turned around and left after speaking.

Wang Laoshi was stunned and said, "Is there something wrong?"

"It's something." Zhuang Xiucai smiled, "It's a good thing."

"A good thing?" Wang Laoshi quickly followed up, "What a good thing."

"Choose a daughter-in-law." Zhuang Xiucai said, "Based on your military exploits and qualifications, I think you can be selected first."

"Really pick a wife?" Wang Laoshi said happily, "Then I have to pick someone with a big and round butt. My mother said that a big and round butt is easy to bear, and it is specially for giving birth to sons!"

Wang Laoshi followed happily.

……

The time came to early March in the 1646th year of Chongzhen (3).

Chongzhen appeared in Huarong County of Yuezhou Prefecture under the escort of eight hundred barbarians and a small number of new troops.

A group of more than a thousand riders were walking in the fields. Looking up, they saw green wheat fields on both sides of the road, and almost all the wheat seedlings had entered the earing stage.

After the heading period is the filling period.

Soon after the grouting period, the wheat is ripe.

Since the Song Dynasty, wheat has been popularized on a large scale in China, not only in Huguang, but also in Guangdong and Guangxi.

Because winter wheat has a unique advantage over rice.

That is, winter wheat can mature before it enters the flood season. That is to say, planting winter wheat does not need to rely on heaven to eat food, but can steadily harvest a season of wheat, and then sow rice. If you are lucky, you can harvest another season of rice. Well, the rice is likely to be flooded.

Because of this, wheat is also grown on a large scale in Huguang.

Looking at the green wheat fields, Chongzhen couldn't help being in a good mood, and chanted casually: "Lights in the first month, harriers in February, and wheat pipes in March are called blowing Xiao. This year's wheat is growing well, and it is probably a bumper year."

Gao Qiqian continued jokingly: "Long live, the past two years have been pretty good. There has been no flood, drought, or locust plague. It can be seen that our Ming Dynasty has turned around, and ZTE can be expected. !"

These few words were really beautiful, even Chongzhen was delighted when he heard it, and couldn't help laughing.

It happened that an old farmer came out of the wheat field with a hoe on his back, and Chongzhen greeted him directly: "Old man, old man?"

"Old man Wuna." Gao Qiqian immediately galloped forward and shouted, "Long Live Lord is calling you, are you deaf?"

The old farmer looked at Gao Qiqian blankly, and couldn't understand what Gao Qiqian said, because what Gao Qiqian said was Hongwu Zhengyun adapted from Zhongyuan Yayin.

"Gao Qiqian what are you doing?" Chongzhen was furious.

Chongzhen's previous life was similar to Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang's. Perhaps because he was born in the bottom class, he especially hated the dominance of the privileged class.

Gao Qiqian was so frightened that he didn't dare to say any more.

In his previous life, Chongzhen was actually half a native of Hunan, and he could speak a few words of Hunan dialect.

Immediately Chongzhen got off his horse and asked in dialect: "Old man, is this wheat field yours?"

"Well, they all belong to my little hometown." Speaking of the wheat field, the old farmer's expression instantly became lively, and he said happily, "This is all the kindness of the present Long Live Lord, and he distributed more than [-] acres of land to the little old man."

"Has the land been divided?" Chongzhen asked with a smile, "The masters in the clan didn't interfere?"

"Why don't you get in the way, Mr. Zhao insisted that the tens of thousands of acres of official land belonged to his family, but it's useless." The old farmer waved his hand and said, "It was suppressed by the soldiers of the Long Live Lord, and it was cut down several times. Ten heads."

Chongzhen smiled, and asked again: "The wheat is growing well, and it is estimated that we can harvest a lot of wheat."

The old farmer nodded repeatedly when he heard the words: "That is, the small hometown is estimated to be able to harvest forty shi of wheat this year! Even if there is no rice harvest next season, the whole family will not have to go hungry."

"How could the rice fail to harvest?" Chongzhen asked, "Hasn't the Yuezhou government repaired the lake embankment?"

"It's been repaired, but it's no different from not being repaired." The old farmer waved his hand and said, "It's all a fool, and it can't be done at all. It will definitely be washed away when the flood season comes."

Chongzhen's face immediately collapsed when he heard the words.

The bad habits of Ming Dynasty officials are really a long-standing problem.

Zhang Kuang obviously asked for more than [-] taels of silver from the Ministry of Household Affairs and distributed them to six prefectures around the lake or along the river. Each prefecture distributed almost a hundred thousand taels of silver for the construction of water conservancy projects.

But obviously, the money in Yuezhou Mansion was lost.

So the official voice of Li Jiaozheng, the magistrate of Yuezhou, is also false, and what he heard is false.

The old farmer said again: "If the master doesn't believe it, you can go to the lake to have a look, it's not too far anyway."

Chongzhen lost interest in observing the sentiments of the people, and Dang even took Zhu Cijiong, Wang Chengen, Gao Qiqian, and Yi Ding off the main road to Dongting Lake.

On the surface, the embankment looks like something.

But when you get closer, you can see the problem.

One is that there is no stone laying, and the other is that there is no wooden pile!

However, the embankment has been rammed anyway.

There is no problem with such a lake embankment in a short period of time, but the lake will slowly collapse after being soaked in water for a long time. In fact, some lake embankments have already collapsed, although the area is very small.

Zhu Cijiong said: "Father, this is the bean curd project you often talk about."

Gao Qiqian also said: "Long live, this old slave will lead a team of barbarians to arrest the prefect of Yuezhou. This dog official dares to covet even the money for repairing the embankment of the lake. He is tired of living."

Wang Chengen next to him couldn't help but secretly sighed.

I said in my heart that Eunuch Gao really remembers eating but not beating.

Sure enough, Chongzhen's face collapsed, and he asked, "Gao Banban, when did you join the cabinet to pay respects?"

"Join the cabinet to worship the prime minister?" Gao Qiqian was taken aback when he heard the words, and said blankly, "Long Live Lord, this old slave did not enter the cabinet."

"So you also know that you didn't join the cabinet?" Chongzhen shouted with a dark face, "Then what right do you have to lead troops to arrest the prefect of Yuezhou? This is the power of the cabinet and the Huguang Chief Envoy!"

"Uh..." Gao Qiqian was at a loss for words when he heard that, and said the wrong thing again.

While speaking, a group of officials hurriedly came on the official road ahead.

The leader is a scarlet robe official, followed by a group of green robes and green robes.

When they got to the embankment of the lake, they were stopped by Yi Ding and prevented them from approaching any further.

Chongzhen snorted coldly and said, "Hu Guozhu, just let them come over."

Only then did Hu Guozhu order Yi Ding to step aside and let the officials come to the embankment of the lake.

"My lord, Li Jiaozheng, the magistrate of Yuezhou, led the Tongzhi, Tuiguan and other colleagues to kowtow to the Holy One."

After the scarlet robe official Li Jiaozheng, the magistrate of Yuezhou, finished speaking, more than a dozen officials bowed down at the same time: "My lord, Wanfu Jin'an."

"Wanfu Jinan?" Chongzhen sneered, pointing at the lake embankment, "Master Li, Yuezhou has such a lake embankment, and the Ming Dynasty has a magistrate like you, how can I get Wanfu Jinan?"

Li Jiaozheng said without any fear: "Report to the Holy Majesty, I have done my best to repair the embankment of the lake."

"You tried your best?" Chongzhen said, "Tell me, how did you try your best to repair the embankment?"

Li Jiaozheng said: "The lake embankment in Yuezhou prefecture stretches for six to seven hundred miles, and the [-] taels of silver allocated by the feudal government office is simply a drop in the bucket. If the standard set by the Ministry of Industry is sufficient to repair the lake One mile of embankment requires five thousand taels of silver for food and materials and five thousand taels of silver for materials, and at least three million taels of silver for six hundred miles of lake embankment!"

What Li Jiaozheng said made Chongzhen speechless.

After a while, Chongzhen pointed at the embankment and asked, "This is the embankment you spent [-] taels of silver to build? Is this what you said you have done your best?"

"Returning to the Holy Lord, the cost of this lake embankment is not [-] taels."

Li Jiao replied neither overbearing nor humble: "It's one hundred and ten thousand taels."

"Besides, it's not easy to build the embankment like this with one hundred and ten thousand taels of silver."

"If the Holy Majesty doesn't believe it, you can go and see the lake embankment in Changde Mansion or Changsha Mansion."

"If the lake embankment of Changde Mansion or Changsha Mansion is built stronger than that of Yuezhou Mansion, I will deal with it."

"Oh, really?" Chongzhen laughed, "This is quite new. I've only heard that magistrates have lost all the money allocated by the court. This is the first time I've heard of magistrates posting money backwards."

Having said this, Chongzhen asked again: "Where did the extra thirty thousand taels come from?"

"I begged for it." Li Jiaozheng said, "I begged from the gentry from house to house, because after repairing the embankment of the lake, the fertile land around the lake can be protected from flooding, so the gentry from every family can give up the money."

Chongzhen stared at Li Jiaozheng for a long time, Li Jiaozheng also stared at Chongzhen openly.

Arriving here, Li Jiaozheng's image in Chongzhen's eyes overlapped with the official voice again.

In fact, along the way, all the information Chongzhen got said that Li Jiao was a good and honest official, and almost never heard of a bad side.

After a long while, Chongzhen asked again: "If we say that according to the standards set by the Ministry of Industry, there is enough work and enough material, how much money will it take to repair the Dongting Lake embankment?"

Li Jiao said rightly: "At least ten million!"

After this pause, Li Jiaozheng said: "After the lake embankment is repaired, there will be no lake troubles for at least [-] years, and as long as the Yangtze River does not have floods that occur once in [-] or [-] years, all the prefectures around the lake will be safe every year. With two bumper harvests, wheat plus rice, just one prefecture of Yuezhou can harvest more than [-] million shi of grain!"

Chongzhen couldn't help but be moved when he heard this.

Food security cannot be overemphasized, no agriculture is unstable!
As the big granary of Ming Dynasty, Huguang's water conservancy project cannot be overemphasized.

After pondering for a while, Chongzhen suddenly said: "Li Jiaozheng, if I recommend you to the cabinet as the censor of water control, and raise [-] million taels of silver for you, it will be specially used to repair the Dongting Lake embankment, the Yangtze River embankment, the Xiangshui River and the Yuanshui embankment. Wait, ask for no more floods within fifty years, how confident are you?"

Hearing this, the assistant officers behind Li Jiaozheng were stunned.

How do you say this? Originally, you came to plead guilty to the Holy Spirit, but you ended up asking this?
But Li Jiaozheng said without hesitation: "If the [-] million taels can be allocated in full, and there is no loss of one tael in the middle, then I can build the embankment of Dongting Lake and the embankment of the Yangtze River as solid as gold, let alone fifty years. It is a once-in-a-hundred-year flood, and it is enough to protect more than [-] million mu in the province of Huguang."

"You don't have to worry about drifting away." Chongzhen waved his hand.

"The money for water control is drawn from the Wuchang Branch of the Royal Bank, and does not go through the feudal officials."

(End of this chapter)